The Supreme Court today denied review in In re Cole with no recorded dissents, but Justice Goodwin Liu filed a separate concurring statement, which Justice Kelli Evans signed.
The First District, Division Three, published opinion held a person committed as someone with developmental disabilities who is a danger to himself or others was not entitled to release pending trial of a recommitment petition even though the petition was filed too late for a trial to take place before the one-year commitment period expired. The petitioner claimed he was denied equal protection rights because a late filing without good cause under other commitment schemes requires a release pending trial.
Justice Liu writes, “there is a good argument that any confinement while awaiting trial on a [developmental disabilities] recommitment petition . . . must occur within, not beyond, the one-year commitment period.” He concludes, “Further percolation may prompt us to take up this issue in a future case. In the meantime, the Legislature may wish to clarify whether [Welfare and Institutions Code] section 6500 committees may be confined beyond one year in the manner that Cole was here.” (Related: Wait for it: issue percolation, right vehicles, and legislative inaction.)
